Jockey Jose Ortiz had a whirlwind year in 2016. He led all North American-based jockeys in wins with 351. He won his first Breeders’ Cup race, aboard Oscar Performance. And, she said, “Yes!”
Ortiz became engaged to fellow rider Taylor Rice in June and the couple was married in December.
Ortiz, a 23-year-old native of Puerto Rico, is based in New York. For his breakout year on the track, he is an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding jockey of 2016.
Javier Castellano is bidding for a fourth consecutive Eclipse Award for outstanding jockey after leading all North American-based riders in both mount earnings and graded stakes wins in 2016. Castellano’s year included a Longines Kentucky Oaks victory with Cathryn Sophia, a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf win with New Money Honey, and a standout turf mount in Flintshire.
Arrogate and California Chrome battled it out in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and are the leading contenders for Horse of the Year after they were named as two of the three finalists for the year’s top honor – along with the 3-year-old filly Songbird – when the three finalists in each of 11 equine and six human Eclipse Award categories were announced on Thursday.
Tod Marks, a freelance photographer who specializes in racing, has been named the 2016 Eclipse Award winner for Photography for a picture of the stretch run of a hurdle race at the Iroquois Steeplechase meet on May 14 in Nashville, Tenn., the administrators of the awards announced late on Wednesday.
Marks, who resides in Yonkers, N.Y., is the primary photographer for the National Steeplechase Association and contributes photos to a variety of publications. The winning photograph appeared in the July/August issue of The Chronicle of the Horse Untacked.
Daily Racing Form has been named the winner of a 2016 Media Eclipse Award for Audio/Multi-Media and Internet for a piece appearing on its website profiling the longevity of three Hall of Fame riders, the administrators of the awards announced on Tuesday.
The piece, called “Time Bandits,” was written by Jay Hovdey, DRF’s executive columnist who has won four previous Eclipse Awards for writing. Barbara Livingston, DRF’s staff photographer who has won three photography Eclipses, provided pictures, while Molly McGill, a free-lance videographer, produced video elements.
When it came to the annual Eclipse Award for outstanding owner, there once were some creative choices. Juddmonte Farms won in 1992 with a small, select group of North American stakes runners before anyone over here could put Prince Khalid’s face to his stable’s name. Bert and Diana Firestone were honored in 1980 when their Genuine Risk became the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby in 65 years. And in 1990, Frances Genter won because her colt Unbridled won the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and because she was Frances Genter.
Steven Crist and Andrew Beyer are the recipients of the 2016 Eclipse Award of Merit, it was announced Thursday by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters.
Crist and Beyer are widely recognized as trendsetters in the field of turf writing. Both came to prominence in the 1970s and ’80s as outspoken advocates for the horseplaying public, with Beyer becoming an iconic racing writer for the Washington Post and Crist for the New York Times and Daily Racing Form.
Maria Borell was in the tunnel getting ready to saddle her first horse at Gulfstream Park last Sunday when the trainer in the next stall caught her eye and came smiling forward.
“We need to get a picture,” he said, handing his smartphone to an innocent bystander. “Two Breeders’ Cup winners. That’s us.”
There were a whole bunch of firsts celebrated at the 45th Eclipse Awards dinner last Saturday night at Gulfstream Park, some of them historic, others merely adding a little zip to a long night.
First, I was genuinely surprised that my tuxedo fit, and remind me to send a note of appreciation to the guy who invented those adjustment clips on the beltline of the pants. Yes, I will have the key lime pie.
